The story of SanWild’s logo zebra – Louise Joubert

I will never forget the day she arrived in the back of a game capture truck still covered in the dry blood of her mother. The young foal lay dead still, her little head hanging down. When I got up inside the game capture truck she did not even bother to look up, but when I gently lifted her to her feet to check for any visible injuries she turned around in a split second and bit me on the side of my hip. The seemingly dead foal had turned into a kicking and biting “little demon” and she did not intend to allow me close to her. She stood in the one corner of the truck shivering with exhaustion and I had to fight back my tears.

At the time, I was still working for a game capture unit.  Our team had captured the young foal and her mother the previous day and they were to be relocated to another private game farm about 80 kilometres away. Unfortunately, the herd had become extremely stressed as result of the truck driver having to drive off the road to avoid a collision with another vehicle. Although he managed to avoid a crash, the zebras in the back of the truck had panicked and some had been injured. The falling bodies of the adult zebra had instantly crushed two other foals, but Kwakkies (as I named her) survived. Unfortunately, her mother could not be calmed down and continued jumping inside the truck until she eventually crushed her skull against the roof and died.

Out of a group of 18 zebras captured only 11 survived, amongst them the young unweaned foal. The remaining 11 zebras were offloaded at their new destination, but the young foal was returned to the capture unit, as the farmer did not want an unweaned animal.

While sitting on my haunches inside the capture truck where I could still smell the urine and fresh blood I knew in my heart that what we were doing to wild animals was so wrong. I was convinced that I could feel and even smell the animals fear and I pictured the broken legs and dying animals inside the truck. I hated the moment and can relive my feelings as if it only happened yesterday, but while I looked at this young petrified animal, I realized that I needed to change my life – I simply could not continue to do this job any longer. The suffering became too much and I had an overwhelming feeling that I had to do so something to help not just this young zebra, but also the many other animals like her that had fallen victim to South Africa’s growing wildlife industry.

Eventually the foal lay down again and I got off the truck to get a light tranquilizer and prepare her for transportation back to my house. We arrived home exhausted at 03h00 the next morning. I tried to give her some milk, but she refused and frankly, I was too exhausted to be bothered and to fight her to take milk. I went to fetch a blanket and laid down on the grass inside the temporary pen where I very quickly fell asleep.

Maria, my house help’s calls woke me shortly after 07h00 and I felt the foal lying close to my body. I did not feel her lying down next to me during the night. Her small head was down on the grass and she was sleeping deeply. When I moved, she jumped up and stood in the corner of the small outside room shaking from head to toe. After a quick cup of coffee, I warmed her milk and returned to the outside room. After a short struggle with the foal between my legs, I managed to get the teat into her mouth and when the warm milk started trickling down her throat she gave up and started suckling desperately. While drinking, her body shook and then stopped for a short while before she started shaking again. I realized she was in shock and that the terrible last 48 hours had affected her in a bad way.

She took 2 litres of milk and then lay down exhausted and slept for the next five hours without moving. I knew I was in trouble, this foal had stolen my heart and without a doubt I would have walked a desert for her at the time, and would like her own mother, fight any predator (man or animal) that wanted to harm her. I was in love; it is a simple as that. Little did I know how this young animal was going to change my entire life...forever!

 Continued here